GULF SHORES, Ala. (Oct. 27, 2015)—It is with honor that the publishers and editors of ConventionSouth, the national multimedia resource for planning events in the South, present Francis Marion Hotel with a 2015 Readers’ Choice Award.

“ConventionSouth readers and fans have voted to decide the best meeting sites in the South, and it is no surprise to us that Francis Marion Hotel has been selected to receive our annual Readers’ Choice Award,” said ConventionSouth Publisher J. Talty O’Connor. “The value in receiving this prestigious recognition is that it comes from the United States’ top meeting professionals who hold events in the South. These planners demand the highest level of customer service and quality facilities, and they have contributed in determining that Francis Marion Hotel indeed displays the commitment to professionalism, creativity and service that they require.”

Francis Marion Hotel is among 180 convention and visitor bureaus (CVBs), meeting facilities and hotels located across the South to receive this year’s Readers’ Choice Award. Throughout the year, meeting professionals nominated the meeting sites they believe provide exemplary service for group events. The nominated sites are then compiled onto an online ballot where meeting professionals and fans are asked to vote for the best of the best. More than 5,000 voters participated this year in the selection process – the highest vote count ever recorded.

Since creation in 2001, this is the first time that Francis Marion Hotel has received the award, making it an even greater honor to present it with a 2015 Readers’ Choice Award. Francis Marion Hotel will be featured as an award recipient in the December 2015 Awards Issue of ConventionSouth magazine. This exciting issue will also showcase some of the most talented meeting professionals in the nation as ConventionSouth also presents planners with its annual “Meeting Professionals To Watch” designation. “Featuring peer advice and trade secrets from our Meeting Professionals to Watch in 2015, our Awards Issue is one of the most popular must-read resources within the meetings industry,” O’Connor said.

Celebrating over 30 years as a leading meeting planning resource, ConventionSouth magazine is based in Gulf Shores, Ala., and is distributed to more than 18,000 meeting professionals located across the country who book meetings held within the South, according to O’Connor.